I still don't see where they've demonstrated a threat to the child. Even that article points out that the BPD diagnosis was "removed" when she was 18, and that article is at least equally as slanted as the previous article.

This whole incident is due to the women having, “a difficult incident with my ex where I needed to call the police and the police put a report through to social services because I was pregnant”.

So, she calls the police over a falling out with the baby's father, and, because she suffered from a mental illness as a teenager, they went straight after custody of her unborn child. That's pretty arbritrary.

That story also claims, "This is not about whether the decision by social services is right or wrong." Hmm, then what in the hell is it about? That statement is idiotic.

And, all they can come up with in defense of their child-snatching policy is the fact that the government thugs involved were "doing their duty", without bothering to examine it any further. It's mindless acceptence of government edict that endagers everyone's welfare.

The article concludes with a telling quote from the mother, herself. "All I’m asking is that I’m given a chance to assuage their concerns and fears. Hopefully that isn’t too unreasonable.” No, I don't think that's unreasonable, at all. All she wants is the opportunity to argue her case, and she obviously didn't feel she was being given that chance.


In related news, another women in the U.K. has been told she should get pregnant, if she wants to be able to continue her education.

'Get pregnant to stay in school' | Metro.co.uk

What in the hell is going on in the U.K.? Good grief.

Whatever reason she got into social services in the first place really has not been disclosed, and shouldn't be, for privacy reasons. Which makes these types of attacks on social services unfair. It's a witch hunt that really can't be refuted or fact checked. Things are not adding up, and there's a lot of important details in the storyline that are just missing.

The big red flag though, is that social workers are painted to be green horned demons that want to steal babies. If you know any social workers personally, this couldn't be further from the truth. For the most part, social workers make very little money, and only do what they do because they are advocates for the people they want to help. Or they've been in similar situations themselves. It's practically charity work. Social workers truly care about the people they try to help. The social worker is the advocate of the mother *and* the child.

I'm hoping the mother can keep her child. She has every right to fight the decision, and prove her competence. If she wins, also the general rules for determining these cases should be re-examined as well.

In some cases though, a mother is not mentally capable to raise a child. It's not her fault, if this is the case, but neither should the child suffer. If in twenty years, her daughter is cutting on her arms like her mother, is that really a victory for individual freedoms?

She wasn't arrested or charged with a crime. If she had, we'd be having a different conversation. Scrutiny of government is the necessary job of the public, one that they fail at more often then not. I'd hardly call it unfair.

I don't recall anyone accusing the social workers of being anything worse than misguided in their decisions. I wouldn't consider that an "attack".

At the least, they should be examined. Whether there is the will necessary to do this in the U.K., I don't know, but judging by the plethora of intrusion into their lives by the state that the citzens already allow, I doubt it.


I'm unwilling to make judgements based on the probability of future events. A just government would be, as well. If we accept the restriction of individual liberty based on what a person could possibly do in the future, individual liberty ceases to exist.

havent read the first article, but the second, metro article looks like a bunch of bullshit for the most part, then again its to be expected, the metro is as worthless as used toilet roll, education is free until the age of eighteen here, in fact children who are in school from 16-18 now get given £30 a week to cover costs. Theres no textbooks to buy they are all provided buy the schools, so she lives with her sister and pays presumably only the costs of living, besides child support benefits are next to nothing.

It seemed to me that she was looking for a hand-out. Don't they have life insurance in the U.K.? It's unfortunate if the parents left nothing for their children upon death, but I don't consider that to be a problem that can be solved by government, outside of making prosperity possible, in general.

What I found worthy of discussing was the social worker's advice to get pregnant. I'm assuming there is some evidence of that actually occuring for it to be reported as such, but if the news source isn't credible to begin with, I plead ignorance.

Good work researching the story in the thread more thoroughly. But I simply had to respond to this comment.

Addiction is not a disease as many people would have us believe. It is a self-imposed condition. Specific drugs may have physical withdrawal symptoms (narcotics in particular), but addiction itself is a state of mind. People who allow it to become a 'lifelong struggle' (and there are certainly many many of them) do so of their own free will. No exceptions.

I agree with that sentiment, entirely. You have to have the desire and will to stop. It's that simple. If you lack the desire, the will, or both, you won't.

I don't see how it serves those suffering from addiction to convince them that they are somehow predisposed to these types of behavior, or that they are unable to alter their own behavior. That's most of these people's problem to begin with. They were never made to learn self-control as children, so they become adults with no self-control.

If anything, this line of thinking only reinforces the idea, which many of them already posses, that they are a victim of overwhelming/uncontrollable forces, which then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

You're giving them justifications for their self-destructive behavior when what they really need is a good, swift kick in the ass and some hard advice. I'm all for treating addiction as an illness, which it certainly is, but treat it as the self-inflicted condition that it is. Don't dress it up.

If we would stop wasting our time and money waging "War on Drugs", stop throwing these people in prison for non-violent offenses, and focus on getting them the treatment they need, it would solve most of our drug abuse problems.

Who are you and why are you posting on kevmatin's account?

of course life insurance is available, but doubt very many people have it, i know for a fact neither of my parents do, and i certainly dont,

Well the metro as a free newspaper given away on train services that survives by selling adds so theyll make up the most contraversial thing they can so people will open it and see that 90% of the paper is adds, obviously you couldnt have known that
but that kind of journalism is typical of the metro (and the sun as it happens) they dont do any checking usually, for all we know the worker may have said it, but as an off-the-cuff statement not a serious suggestion, and saying she gets no money is a lie if shes 17 and in full time education and especially as full time education has very little cost involved.

How can you not love the sun or the metro?



Real life | Boob job diary | Sarah's story | The Sun |HomePage|Woman|Real Life

Man gets Puff tattooed on penis | Metro.co.uk

Car fetishist jailed over 'sex act' | Metro.co.uk

That's what I call good and relevant journalism.